Dear readers,
The regatta of the XXXIII Olympic Games begins on Sunday. The 28th of July marks the start for the windsurfers and skiff athletes. The iQFoil experts Sebastian "Basti" Kördel and Theresa "Resi" Steinlein, both from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, Marla Bergmann and Hanna Wille from the Mühlenberger Segel-Club and Jakob Meggendorfer and Andreas Spranger, who are competing for the Bayerischer Yacht-Club, will be in demand. All six athletes from the national sailing team's Olympic squad are about to make their Olympic debut. They have fulfilled this lifelong dream with a lot of hard work and great passion for their sport.
Now the dream is set to continue on the Olympic world stage. From 1 August, Philipp Buhl (NRV/SCAI) and Julia Büsselberg (VSaW) will open their series in the Ilca 7 and Ilca 6 respectively. From 2 August, the 470 mixed fleet with Simon Diesch/Anna Markfort (WYC/VSaW/JSC) will celebrate its Olympic premiere. One day later, the fast Kiel Nacra 17-foilers Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer (KYC) will start their second Games together. Last but not least, the new Olympic Formula kiters with Jannis Maus (Cuxkiters) and Leonie Meyer (NRV) will be in action from 4 August.
For a total of 330 sailors, windsurfers and kiters - 165 women and 165 men - it is the picturesque bay of Marseille where they want to prove themselves and achieve great things. With daytime temperatures well above 30 degrees, they will be dancing in the cool waters. They want to show what they can do in the heat of battle, play to their strengths and be faster and smarter than the competition.
Quite a few of them will have firmly resolved to do everything as they would in any other regatta, to concentrate on their routines, to remember what they have learnt and to tackle the summit one step at a time. So much for the theory.
But the Olympics is not a normal regatta.
The huge countdown clocks on the starting boats already signalise the XXXL format of the Games. The media attention exceeds the usual manageable number of reporters in international sailing many times over. The desire for success is even greater than usual, because the chance to do so is harder to fight for and rarer to achieve than at the World or European Championships, for example, where many athletes from one nation are allowed to take part. In Olympic sailing, there can only be one boat or board per country and discipline.
The world's biggest sports festival explodes familiar horizons like a kaleidoscope.
Both are of Greek origin: Olympia and the kaleidoscope. Olympia is the Greek town where sporting competitions were held every four years between 776 BC and 393 AD. Not more often, because the athletes of old often had to undertake long journeys to reach Olympia. Although the kaleidoscope was not patented until 1816 by the Scottish physicist David Brewster, it is said to have been known to the ancient Greeks, just like Olympia. Translated from the Greek, kaleidoscope means: to see beautiful shapes.
The essence - to see, experience and achieve beautiful, exciting and great things - connects the Olympics and the kaleidoscope. Athletes who can, embrace the Games. That is easier said than done. Because the pressure on athletes, which they impose on themselves or which comes from outside in the form of expectations, hopes and wishes, is so much higher at the Olympic Games than anywhere else. Goals and willpower are not always compatible with daily form, opportunities and the game of the competition.
Mums, dads, children, friends and fans all over the world will be cheering on the 10,500 Olympians in Paris and the other French host cities. In Germany, fingers are crossed for 463 athletes. Three years ago in Japan, the German Olympic team finished the Games in ninth place in the medals table. The sailors in Enoshima made a remarkably strong contribution to ten gold, eleven silver and 16 bronze medals with one silver for the 49er FX crew Tina Lutz/Susann Beucke (Chiemsee Yacht-Club/NRV) and two bronze medals for the 49er sailors Erik Heil/Thomas Plößel (NRV) and Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer (KYC). They won the three medals on 3 August within an unforgettable three and a half hours. Erik Heil, who is now working on the promotion of the German team in the SailGP, characterised the picture at the time, saying: "That was a gigantic day for German sailing." It had been 21 years since German medallists had won three medals in sailing at the Games. Especially not in one day.
"The greatest skill was not to think about the medal before the final, because otherwise I can't sail any more because the pressure is simply too great," said helmswoman Tina Lutz after the greatest success of her career in Enoshima.
What will the 14 German sailors, windsurfers and kiters achieve in the Bay of Marseille? Can 2020 world champion Philipp Buhl fulfil his big dream of an Olympic medal at his third attempt in the tight Ilca 7 top flight with at least seven medal contenders? Can iQFoil windsurfing giant Sebastian Kördel return to the form in which he so thrillingly became world champion in 2022 and confirmed his outstanding performance as runner-up in 2023? Can the 470 duo Simon Diesch and Anna Markfort win the medal they have clearly set their sights on in the Olympic mixed premiere and honour the entire German training group that has made them so strong? Can Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer shine as brightly as they did in Marseille despite the hurdles they had to overcome after losing their coach? What will the other German Olympic novices be capable of in France?
Neither the questions about the medals nor the predictions about performances, coups, comebacks or knockouts can be answered by looking into the Olympic kaleidoscope before the Games of a lifetime. But one thing is certain: the Marseille moments will remain unforgettable for those who made it to the Olympics.
May the words of four-time Olympic champion Paul Elvstrøm accompany them on their Olympic course: "You haven't won a regatta if you've lost the respect of your competitors when you win." In darker hours, the advice of five-time Olympic champion Venus Williams could point the way: "You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That's what makes you a winner."
I wish the national sailing team a team spirit that carries them and the successes they deserve. I wish the athletes - Philipp, Sebastian, Simon, Anna, Paul, Alica, Jannis, Leonie, Theresa, Marla, Hanna, Julia, Jakob and Andreas - great moments on the water and good encounters on land that they will remember fondly for the rest of their lives. Olympia is also a booster in this respect. "Basti" Kördel put another Olympic feeling into good words: "The special thing about the Games is that you unite the nation behind you a little. Everyone wants you to do well. That's a great feeling."
I wish you, dear YACHT readers, thrilling Olympic sport, fun as you cheer, bravery as you suffer and goosebumps as you rejoice. In our big Olympics special on Yacht online you will find all the information about the team, Marseille, the TV broadcast times, an exciting quiz with a desirable one-off as a prize. And, of course, we will be reporting directly from Marseille every day.
For me as a reporter, this will be the ninth Olympic Games I have covered on site. France's Games will hopefully be peaceful and joyful. They will be different again from Barcelona, Savannah, Sydney, Athens, Qingdao, Weymouth, Rio and Enoshima. I'm just as excited to see the Olympic summit storm again as I was the first time in 1992 in the city that will provide the stage for the America's Cup this autumn: Barcelona.
The Olympic sailing curtain is now opening in Marseille.
Tout est possible à qui rêve, ose, travaille et n'abendonne jamais. Everything is possible to those who dream, dare, work and never give up.
With warm pre-Olympic greetings, yours and yours
Tatjana Pokorny,
YACHT sports expert
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